Tanabata Nights
by yamashita nana
Summary: A false truth separated them...forgetting what united them that night on Tanabata...AU IchiRuki. R&R
1. The Moon's Sonata

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the Bleach characters. They belong to the great Tite Kubo.

Please Read and Review. Drop a small little note in the reviews section. :)

**Chapter One - The Moon's Sonata**

"What are you doing by the window?" A very forceful voice said.

A young Rukia snapped her indigo gaze away. "Nothing."

Her mother slammed the shutters, Rukia's eyes blinking nervously. "Time and again I tell you to stay away from the windows."

Rukia spoke before she could stop her young impulsive self. "I just wanted to look outside."

"What?"

This time, she knew she had done it. Rukia stepped back, her mother looming overhead. Tall and astute, a nose wrinkled in displeasure, her mother was the very embodiment of strict. Today was far from being Rukia's luckiest day, her mother pointing towards the black piano waiting silently in the sitting room.

Not questioning her mother, she sat herself on the stool.

"Play."

Her little hands struggled throughout her piece, her cheeks losing color. The back of her neck felt clammy, her insides churned in fear.

"Stop." She did.

"Get up." On her two feet, facing down in front of her mother, she felt so small.

"Hands." Her thin hands quivered as she held them in front of her.

Her eyes shut themselves, Rukia bracing herself for the pain of a ruler making contact with flesh.

WHACK.

_10 years later..._

Beautiful, smooth hands played a grand piano with expertise Ludwig Van Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. Her back, straight and tall; one could see the education that had been implemented on the young girl. Her long bangs fell over her face, shielding her eyes, shielding them in their indigo mystery.

"Inappropriate choice of piece, Rukia." Mrs. Kuchiki critized her, finding fault in something. Long ago had her mother found fault in her playing, opting to criticizing her choices.

"I think its beautiful," she replied carefully.

"That better not be what you will play at your piano recital," her mother warned her.

"Mrs. Kuchiki," a voice rang from somewhere inside the two story house, taking her mother away. Rukia could finally breathe.

Rukia peeked through the small crack of the door, hoping that the occupant inside would be awake. "Hisana?" she whispered.

"Come on in." Hisana's voice, raspy from her being ill, still managed to sound coated in sweetness. "Your piano playing gets better and better everyday."

Rukia blushed at her sister's praise. "I will never be as good as you."

"Nonsense," Hisana spoke. "You have surpassed me."

"What is wrong?" Perceptive as always, Hisana could see Rukia was not happy by any means. Those indigo eyes spoke volumes.

"Mother wont let me play what I wish for the recital," Rukia answered sadly.

Hisana coughed momentarily, waving off Rukia's concern. Recalling her sister's previous statement, she chuckled. "Ludwig Van Beethoven is a bit too much for a girl your age, don't you think?"

Rukia's eyes turned to disbelief, questioning Hisana's comment. "Hisana, I'm seventeen."

"I know, I know," Hisana giggled. "But you are still the same little Rukia to me."

Rukia's eyes sparkled, her small lips turning into a smile. "Enough about piano. I heard the doctor tell mother that you will be walking soon."

"Shoot! I wanted it to be a secret."

"You can't keep a secret from me Hisana."

"Rukia!" Mother. The sisters meeting was cut short. Rukia, who had been sitting on Hisana's bed stood up immediately. Her hands smoothed the place where she had sat, clasping her hands in front of her once done.

"You are supposed to be downstairs." Her mother's footsteps echoed menacingly.

"I wanted to see Hisana."

"You could have done that later." Rukia nodded solemnly. "Go."

"Excuse me," Rukia bowed down, shutting the door quietly behind her.

Hisana shook her head disapprovingly at the exchange between her mother and her younger sister. "Mother, you are too strict with-"

Mrs. Kuchiki hushed her eldest daughter, running a hand on her daughter's forehead. "Hisana. Lets not start." Her mother moved across the room to the nightable beside her bed, her hand shaking a white tablet from an orange container.

"Besides, its not your place for you to tell me how to raise my daughter."

Hisana nodded, though she still could not understand. She did not disapprove of the way their mother had raised them, only their mother had been too cold. Very rare had she shown affection to both. Hisana could not deny that mother had shown more affection to her the most while Rukia stood by to watch, a beggar of affection, hoping to receive at least a morsel of it.

"I just think you are too cold with Rukia." Hisana muttered.

Mrs. Kuchiki avoided Hisana's statement, bringing to attention Hisana's medication. For now, Hisana let it go.


	2. Arabesque Heart

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Bleach characters. They belong to the great Tite Kubo.**

Please Read and Review. Drop a small little note in the reviews section. :)

**Chapter Two - Arabesque Heart**

She had gone through a stack of music sheets but not one called to her attention. All of them seemed so uniform and bland. _Not one of these says what I am feeling. _She shuffled through the sheets, deciding to pick a random one.

"Bach?" She sighed with discontent, discarding the sheets up in the air.

"What are you doing in here all by yourself?"

Rukia picked up the scattered sheets thinking it was her mother only to look up and see it was Isane. She let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, just deciding what I will play at the recital."

"That's in a couple of weeks right?"

Rukia nodded, piling up the sheets in one neat stack.

"Come. I will treat you to an ice cream."

Though she was a maid in the Kuchiki household, Rukia saw Isane as a friend. Her mother didn't let her form any friendships at school. She did not want any outside influences to affect her. Thus, Isane was the person Rukia could turn to whenever she was in a slump. Besides her sister Hisana, who was a major part of her life.

"Only you know how to lure me, Isane." Rukia smacked her lips together, eyes dancing on the delicious confection in front of her. "Strawberry!"

Exiting the ice cream shop with their shopping of groceries in hand, Rukia led the way back home. _Sweet goodness!_ She had forgotten the taste of ice cream. She had to finish her ice cream cone quick or else...

"Ah!"

Intense brown eyes met dark indigo ones. Little did Kurosaki Ichigo know that those eyes would haunt him everyday and every hour of his life. His very existence would hang on a thin thread because of those indigo eyes that where at that moment dissapointed at the sudden fate of her ice cream cone.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Sorry is not going to cut it." Rukia didn't know what had gotten into her. A more haughty persona that she didn't know had existed inside her arose from within her at the sudden encounter of this orange haired boy. Something about his loud hair...

Ichigo scratched the back of his head, those pair of eyes making him nervous. _I have to punch Keigo in the face,_ Ichigo made a mental note. _City girls are mean._

"_Well?_" He was speechless; she stood waiting for his response.

"Rukia."

Rukia and Ichigo's attention was turned to Isane. For the first time, Ichigo noticed that the girl was not alone. Rukia had forgotten all about Isane behind her. The whole world had been reduced to just the two of them.

"Its ok, young man."

"No, its not, ma'am." He turned to look at the young girl, "I promise I will make it up to you."

"How?" Rukia's arms where crossed in front of her, eyes challenging him.

"I will treat you," Ichigo offered. "Any day you are available."

"Good luck with that," Rukia muttered, Ichigo's ears unable to catch her words. She pulled Isane with her, leaving the tall boy behind without a second glance. Isane had another plan in mind.

"She is available Tuesdays around four!"

"_No I am not_!" Rukia pulled at Isane's arm, but the older was too strong for the tiny girl.

"I will see you in front of the clock tower." Its the only place Ichigo knew how to get to in the large, unknown city.

"She will be there." With that Isane let herself be pulled by Rukia who would berate her all the way home.

_Rukia, huh?_

* * *

><p>Keigo looked at his watch for the billionth time that hour, offering his sincerest apologies to the young man sitting across from him.<p>

Pushing up his thin silver frames up his nose, he excused Keigo's 'friend' tardiness by giving another five minutes of his time.

"Sorry! My apologies for being late!"

"Ichigo!"

The other young man sitting across stood up from his seat, his eyes unprepared to the bright orange hair Kurosaki Ichigo sported. "Ishida Uryuu."

"Kurosaki Ichigo."

"This is the acquaintance I was telling you about, Ichigo." Keigo stated excitedly. "His father is Doctor Ishida Ryuuken. You have heard much about him."

"Your father is a master at his profession."

Ishida nodded, very well aware of his father's acomplishments in the medical field. "My father has been wanting to take up an apprentice. Someone who is passionate of the medical field."

"Believe me, he is! His father is a trusted doctor in our town!" Keigo added enthusiastically, ignoring the fact that he had interrupted Ishida.

"I will discuss it with my father."

"Drinks are on me," Keigo added happily, converting the professional mood to a more casual one. Sometimes, it was beneficial to have someone like Keigo around.

"So how are you liking the big city Ichigo?"

He waved the question off, remembering his encounter with Rukia. "I just met a girl."

"Did you get her name? Phone number?" Keigo asked, serving Ishida another glass of sake which the other tried to refuse.

Ichigo could beat himself up. "No, I didn't get her number." He had completely forgotten.

Keigo patted his friend on the back, "Too bad my friend."

"Don't feel sorry for me just yet." Ichigo's face was smug with victory. "I got a date with her."

Ishida who hadn't said much, spoke up. "Everything seems to be in your favor, Kurosaki." All three raised their glasses up in toast.

For a new friendship. For love. _For Rukia._

* * *

><p>She tiptoed down the hall, turning the knob quietly and let herself inside Hisana's room. Sunlight teased through the white curtains of the windows. Climbing into her sister's bed, Rukia slipped inside the covers. Hisana slept peacefully, her chest rising up ever so gently.<p>

"Sneaky as ever, eh, Rukia?" Hisana opened her left eye slightly, a smile on her lips.

"Ah, I didn't mean to wake you," Rukia apologized.

"Don't worry. I was awake."

"Now that you are here...Isane told me about what happened yesterday afternoon." Hisana looked at her teasingly. Rukia immediately blushed.

"I don't understand," she lied, eyes darting all over the room, except landing on her older sister.

"Isane told me he was handsome."

"I didn't even look at him!" Rukia denied.

"He was tall...orange hair."

Rukia rolled her eyes, recalling how she had to tilt her head up to look at him. She remembered his eyes, those intense eyes looking right into hers. "Soft brown eyes," she found herself saying.

"So you did notice something?" Hisana teased.

Rukia hid under the covers, curling into a ball. Hisana laughed at Rukia's silly antics. Pulling the comforter off herself, Rukia showed her bottom lip curling angrily, eyebrows furrowed.

"So, do you like him?" Hisana broke the silence, breaking Rukia's angry mask, cheek's flushing.

"I don't even know his name," Rukia snapped.

"But you will on Tuesday."

Rukia dug her face in a pillow and groaned. Her heart was shaking inside her; butterflies in her stomach. _Is this...?_ Looking at Hisana, she saw the answer to her unfinished question in her sister's face. Giggling uncontrollably, Rukia hugged Hisana, feeling the happiest that she had ever felt in her entire life.

The days in between dragged on for Rukia. Feeling restless; she sat, she stood up, she walked, back and forth. Back and forth, inside the house that was much to small for her elated emotions and much too big to put her lonely heart at ease.

Hisana and Isane where in on her secret, while her mother was unaware of the secret floating around in the Kuchiki house.

Finally, after much idling in her thougths, Rukia found comfort in the piano.

Sitting down, piano sheets in hand, she began to play.

Her thin fingers fused with the piano keys, her emotions blended with the music pouring out straight from her soul. Debussy's work filled the sitting room and her heart. She played the last notes to perfection, the light sweet notes as silent as the wind.

"Arabesque?" her mother questioned from the doorway.

"Yes." Rukia closed the piano. "I think I will play this at the recital."

"Too romantic, dont you think?" Her mother had seen right through her! Rukia's gaze fell to the expensive carpet on the floor, hiding her thoughts that had become flooded with her encounter with a certain orange haired young man. "Its perfect. A better improvement than what you wanted to play previously."

A smile crept up on her face, different from any other smiles. _Thank you. _


	3. Strawberry Smitten

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Bleach characters. They belong to the great Tite Kubo.**

**A/N: I just realized that I haven't updated and I this whole time I thought I had. Thank you for the reviews :D**

Please Read and Review. Drop a small little note in the reviews section. :)

**Chapter Three - Strawberry Smitten**

"Rukia-chan." Isane hissed on the girl's ear with no response. _Perfect time to be asleep_. Isane looked at the clock; time was precious.

"Wake up, sleepyhead!" That did the trick, Rukia rubbing her tired eyes. "What are you doing still in your school uniform?"

"I was too tired." Looking at the clock, she remembered she had an art class to attend. Every Tuesday, four-thirty to six. Picking up her bag specific for her art supplies, she made way to her bedroom door.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

"No." Rukia gave Isane an honest look.

"The boy! The young man! Clock tower! Four o'clock!"

Rukia tilted her head, "Ah..._that_. You honestly thought I was going?"

"Kuchiki Rukia!"

"I know my name thank you very much." _Ten minutes till four._ She could make it in time.

"If you are afraid of your mother, do not fear." Isane pulled out a piece of paper, a list scribbled on messily. "I told Mrs. Kuchiki you needed art supplies."

"In the name of my late father...You lied to my mother?" Rukia hushed her voice at Isane's warning. "She believed you?"

"Yes. She approved of your early escapade. So that gives you enough time."

_Go to the clock tower, meet up with him, chat over ice cream, then art class, _she thought to herself. It could work. "Tsk, tsk. It still doesn't give me enough time to buy art supplies."

Isane chuckled, knowing the girl would bring about that slight flaw to her plan. "I am going to buy them silly."

Isane pushed her out the door before Rukia could refuse, shutting the heavy wooden door behind them. Stepping on the sidewalk, there was no turning back now.

* * *

><p>Ichigo tugged at the belt loops of his slim, dark jeans. For the first time in awhile, he was nervous. Why? He did not know. Time and again, he told himself, <em>I am just treating her for ice-cream. Its only to pay her back for what happened last time. <em>

Still, he couldn't help but clench his fists, trying to keep his emotions in check.

_Rukia...Rukia...Rukia..._

His lips had become accustomed to her name already. In fact, the first few times he had said the name to himself, her name had felt familiar to him.

The clock tower behind him marked the time. Four o'clock. She was late. No, he was early. But, he did not want her to be the one waiting for him. He stuffed his hands in the pocket of his jeans, unable to sort out what he would say to her when-

"Good afternoon." There she was, standing in front of him.

There he was in front of her. She felt silly that she was still in her school uniform. Berating herself in her mind over her appearance, she had not listened to his compliment. Isane nudged her from behind.

"Eh?"

"You look nice."

Rukia scoffed, "Im wearing my school uniform." He blushed. She liked what her words provoked from the other.

"I am going to buy your supplies, Rukia. Could you walk her to her art class, young man?"

"Yes, ma'am." Ichigo ecstatic.

"What's your name?" Isane asked.

"Kurosaki Ichigo."

Ichigo? _Strawberry. _Rukia didn't even try to stifle her laughter.

"What are you laughing about?" Ichigo turned to Rukia, Isane out of view.

"Nothing." Rukia cleared her throat. "So, Kurosaki-san, right?"

"Yes. Rukia-chan, correct?"

She was formal; he was not, her name already familiar.

Rolling her eyes, she walked away from the clock tower, the square becoming packed with students and others going about their daily business.

"Let's buy that ice cream and get this over with," she grumbled, leading the way.

* * *

><p>"You really like strawberry, don't you?"<p>

Did ice cream come with a side of annoying? Rukia nodded to him, so matter-of-factly. She smacked her lips, ready to devour her ice cream-

"Tell me about yourself."

"My ice-cream is going to melt if I do." Ichigo didn't challenge her logic. "How about you tell me about yourself."

"What would you like to know?"

"I don't know. Entertain me."

Ichigo chuckled, "Is this how you are with your dates?"

Rukia blushed. Date? Ichigo was her first date... "What is it to you?"

"Besides, this isn't a date," Rukia pointed out. "You are paying back _my_ ice cream that _you_ dropped the other day. Remember?"

"We are here."

Isane waved towards them, waiting at the front door of the art class with Rukia's new supplies in hand.

"Thank you for the ice-cream, Kurosaki-san." She bowed down, turning to the door.

"When will I see you again?"

Rukia turned to look at Isane, hiding her face from Ichigo. Isane egged the girl to reply.

"Never."

* * *

><p>After dinner, Isane pulled Rukia inside the kitchen, away from Mrs. Kuchiki's ears. The astute woman would never come around the kitchen unless it was to order Isane around.<p>

"If you are about to ask me why I replied to that Kurosaki guy like that, save your words Isane."

Rukia joined her in the basin where Isane washed the china bowls dutifully. "I don't have to ask...I know why you answered to Kurosaki-san in that manner."

_Isane did her best to comfort the young man that had kindly escorted her back to the Kuchiki house. He had not taken Rukia's words too well. 'Never' had been a bit harsh of the little lady._

_"I know my Rukia well." Isane assured Kurosaki. "She only means to not cause you any trouble." _

_"Trouble?" Ichigo shook her head. "She gives me no trouble." _

_"Well...except that haughtiness of hers." _

_Isane and Ichigo laughed. Before they reached the front wooden door of the house, Isane stopped in her footsteps. _

_"Rukia's mother, Mrs. Kuchiki is strict. If she where to find out of your meeting with Rukia..."_

_Ichigo nodded, "I understand." _

"You like him, Rukia?"

Rukia could have dropped the china plate, luckily she had a firm grip upon it. Drying the plate with the rag, she gave no response. Isane teased her until she got a rosy blush from the girl.

"Just a bit, okay!" Rukia admitted in defeat. "That permanent scowl on his face on the other hand-"

"Its a part of his charm," Isane countered.

Rukia rolled her eyes, trying to find faults in Kurosaki Ichigo. "That orange hair of his-"

"Who?" The room turned to ice, Mrs. Kuchiki entering the kitchen. "Who are you talking about Rukia?"

Rukia bit her lip, trying to produce a lie but she was no expert of lying. Isane rose to her rescue. "A television program, ma'am."

Mrs. Kuchiki was silent, eventually believing Isane. "You know I don't like you watching television Rukia."

"It was only an hour mother."

"An hour that you could have spent in another productive activity." Her mother went about her business that had brought her in the kitchen in the first place, leaving with a glass of water for Hisana's daily medication.

Rukia and Isane almost passed out from holding their breaths. The moment Kurosaki Ichigo disappeared from her life, the better. Yet that thought pained her instead of relieving her.

* * *

><p>"So, when are you going to see her again?" Keigo asked over dinner at the pension.<p>

Ichigo wiped his lips with his napkin. "I don't know. Her mother is strict."

"Ah."

Ichigo broke the silence with his determination. "I will see her again."

"How?"

"I know where she lives."

Keigo chortled. "Ichigo, part-time doctor, part-time stalker."

Ichigo waved his friend's words. "Not a stalker."

"Oh, let me guess?" Keigo did his best 'smitten' impersonation. "You are just a man in love."

Ichigo laughed, not denying Keigo's words in the slightest.


	4. Impromptu Appearance

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Bleach characters. They belong to the great Tite Kubo.**

**A/N: I forgot to update. **

Please Read and Review. Drop a small little note in the reviews section. :)

**Chapter Four - Improptu Appearance**

_"Schubert?" Rukia looked at the piano sheets in front of her desk. _

_"Yes," Unohana-san answered. "Schubert."_

_Improptu Op.90 No. 2. Rukia gulped, looking at the music sheets in fear. Unohana smiled at her pupil's look of terror. "I trust you can play it." _

Her fingers flew on the piano keys, possessed by Schubert. Tiny frame grew delighted by each note she played. She ignored the doorbell; the mailman dropping off a few letters. She ignored the phone; a call from the accountant looking for her mother. She ignored her whole world; Rukia too free to be tied down to reality.

Schubert was no match for her thoughts on a certain orange hair young man. Two weeks had gone by without news from him. _It was better this way. _Kurosaki-san. Kurosaki Ichigo. Ichigo. Shaking the name from her thoughts, wrapping herself around the last notes of the song, slamming her piano shut. "Ah!"

Out of breath; the song had gone to her head. Making her way to the window, she opened the shutters. People walked on the sidewalk, going about their business freely. Her small hand wrapped around the black metal bar, keeping her inside. She was no different than a caged bird.

"Hello."

Standing on the sidewalk in front of her window was- "Ichigo!"

"Calling me by my first name eh?"

Rukia could not help her blushing. "Don't think too much of it," she answered tartly.

"Don't you ever open windows-"

Rukia's eyes widened with fear, closing the shutters without another word.

"-in your house?" Ichigo finished. Walking over to the window, both hands gripping the bars, he heard the scolding voice of a woman calling Rukia's name.

Rukia moved away from the window quickly.

"You where on your way to the window?" Mrs. Kuchiki asked her daughter.

"No, not at all," Rukia denied.

"You look a bit flushed."

"Too much Schubert."

Mrs. Kuchiki walked to the window where Rukia had been standing previously. Rukia's whole body shook as her mother inched closer and closer to the window. Nervously, she bit her lip almost drawing blood from her teeth sinking into her bottom lip. "...ah..."

Her mother opened the window; Rukia's world fading to black.

* * *

><p>"Rukia?" It was Isane's voice, soft and caring. "Rukia?"<p>

Tap, tap, tap. It was her mother's right foot waiting for her to come around.

Her nose scrunched up at the intense smell of alcohol, her hand pushing the cotton ball away.

"Oh, thank heavens!" Isane exclaimed.

"Silly girl." Her mother was scornful as always. "Too much Schubert indeed."

Rukia found herself on the two-seater, her head throbbing from where her head had made contact with the little round table near the armchair. Mrs. Kuchiki left the sitting room to Hisana's room where her older sister waited to hear about Rukia.

As soon as her mother crossed the threshold, Rukia gripped Isane's arm. "Ichigo was outside the window!"

"Calling him by his first name, eh?" Rukia could almost faint again, Isane smiling that teasing smile of hers.

"So, he was by your window, I see."

Rukia looked at Isane, her suspicions rising. "How does he know where I live?"

Isane didn't say a word, sticking the cotton ball under Rukia's nose. Rukia pulled away from the pugnant smell.

"How could you tell him where I live?"

Isane stood up, hands on her hips. "Don't you look at me like that! Besides, weren't you happy he was here to see you? So happy, you fainted!"

Her hands covered her face, unwilling to show the emotions that had now become resident of her heart.

* * *

><p>Hisana clasped her hands, "I have to meet Kurosaki-san!"<p>

Rukia shook her head, sitting cross-legged on her sister's bed. If Ichigo ever crossed the Kuchiki's threshold, her mother would make sure he would never cross it ever again. Ever.

"Why not?" Hisana stuck out her bottom lip, resembling a three year old child that had been denied a sweet.

"Mother."

"Oh." Hisana saw her little sister's downcast expression, fighting whether her situation was better this way or not. "Mother would never allow it..."

A bitter smile crossed Rukia's innocent lips. "No..."

* * *

><p>Picking up her used paintbrushes, she walked over to the basin being occupied by Hinamori Momo. The two attended the same school, except Momo was in a different class than hers. Like Rukia's mother, Mrs. Hinamori liked her daughter to apply herself in the arts. Where Hinamori excelled academically, Rukia did in the arts.<p>

"You where perfect yesterday!" Momo praised her. "You played Schubert to perfection!"

"Thank you," Rukia answered humbly, her eyes looking down at the basin, its water green from the paintbrush Momo was cleaning.

"I wish my mother would let me quit piano. I just have no talent for it!"

"Nonsense, I thought you played wonderfully."

"Really?"

Rukia nodded encouragingly. "You get better everyday, Momo."

Elated, Momo wiped her paintbrushes and was off to her place in the classroom. Bored and not enthusiastic to return to her canvas, Rukia took her brush and painted her hand blue. The paintbrush gently caressed her hand, blue rivers running on every line of her palm.

"What are you doing?"

Rukia stepped back in surprise, Ichigo peering from the window. Her head turned back to see all six students from her class, including her teacher too preoccupied to care that someone was looking through the class window. She turned her attention to address him.

"What are you doing here!"

"I wanted to see you."

Had he been looking at her through that window for the past two weeks? The thought embarrassed her. Ichigo looking at her as she painted, eyes lost in her canvas, eyebrows furrowed in thought. Her lips pouting when she had curved her paintbrush the right way, her nose crinkling if she was unsure of what she was doing.

"Leave."

"Not without your number." Ichigo was pressing his luck.

Rukia answered smugly, "I don't have a cellphone." Her smugness disappeared however. How many seventeen year old girls like herself didn't have a cellphone? Not having one sounded pathetic. She could kill herself.

"You can have my number." He slipped a paper through the window, prepared for Rukia's rejection. He waited for her to take the slip, which Rukia took indifferently.

"I'm not going to call you," she let him know.

He shrugged, "Doesn't matter." Like the blue paint trickling down from her hand into the drain, Ichigo was gone.

* * *

><p>Her eyes darted to the phone in the hall that evening after class. There it was, just calling out to her. Her fingers itched to call. Her fingers that had traced every number slowly, remembering every curve of his flashy handwriting.<p>

Her hand held the receiver, her ear heard the humming dial tone.

"What are you doing?"

She slammed the receiver, hiding the slip of paper in her clenched fist. "Nothing."

Isane's finger wagged naughtily. "Oh, really?"

Isane pulled her wrist, Rukia pulled back. The two wrestled for a time, Isane prying Rukia's fingers open. "Ah ha!"

"Let's call him."

"No!"

Isane picked up the receiver and dialed as if heaven and earth depended on it. Rukia protested in vain.

* * *

><p>A phone call? He wasted no time to dig for his cellphone in the pocket of his jeans. "Hello?"<p>

There was no answer. He tried once more.

"Hello? Rukia?" Ichigo heard two voices arguing in the background, which he recognized as Isane's and Rukia's.

_"Come on!"_

_"You where the one who dialed!"_

_"Take the phone!"_

_"Isane!"_ This one was another voice in the background, faint but very demanding it brought chills to Ichigo.

The line went dead.

* * *

><p>Mrs. Kuchiki saw Isane and Rukia by the house phone, Isane slamming the phone in an instant. It raised her suspicions greatly.<p>

Rukia shivered in fear.

"What are the both of you doing by the phone?"

"A prank call, ma'am." Isane answered politely.

"I didn't hear the phone ring?"

Rukia's fear stricken face went from pale white to sick. Isane answered bravely. "I am sorry for lying, ma'am. I was calling my younger sister in Karakura."

Mrs. Kuchiki was a cop. "You couldn't have waited until Sunday?"

Rukia's stomach clenched horribly. Isane bit her tongue before answering. "It could not wait, Kuchiki-san. It was an emergency."

"Emergency?" Mrs. Kuchiki turned to see her daughter stricken with dizzyness. "What's wrong with you? Are you feeling faint?" Rukia gave her no response, face white as a sheet of paper. "Don't just stand there! Get a glass of water, silly girl!"

Rukia shuffled to the kitchen, _Kurosaki will be my undoing._


End file.
